A safe landing

[Faith Augustin]

6th Zi'da 716

"I can't believe we're actually doing this. It's so exciting!" Faith said as they made their way to where the land he had bought was. "It will give us such an opportunity to do good, Nir'wei." She was deeply delighted and had been thinking about it for some trials now, since they spoke about it first. "If we use this land, Padraig is happy to make wine for us, too, so that will be really helpful. Home grown produce, home reared animals and home label wine. If we have this we will be able to really... oh it's so exciting!"

There was no doubting it, Faith was different than she had used to be. Her voice was still quiet and if there were people she did not know there, she tended to not speak. But when she was with her friend, she was much more relaxed than she had ever been before. Her enthusiasm shone out of her now, whereas before she had held it in check. But fundamentally, at her core, she was still herself. "I had an excellent plan, by the way, for if we need to pull down any branches without the aid of tools or common sense", she added, a glint of mischief in her pale eyes. How she dressed, now, was much different. Gone were the fancy clothes and hair styles and replaced by warm boots, a long woolen skirt and a warm jumper.

"Oh! I nearly forgot. These are for you", she rummaged in the black shopping bag that she carried and she handed him a small parcel. "I can own things now, so I can make things and give them to my friends. Thank you for being my friend". Inside the parcel, should he look then or later, were an array of things.

Looking around at where he had led her, Faith looked around and then shrugged "So, where are we going, Nir'wei? Where is this land?" She was resisting the urge to tug him on the sleeve, but she resisted. "Is this the place? Is it?"

Info

In the parcel, we have:
1x knitted thick wool hat (no bobble!)
1x knitted thick wool cardigan
1 x knitted thick wool scarf
1 x pair of gloves - two layers to them, underneath is a knitted thermal fingerless glove, above which is a full glove. The top layer can be peeled off if small or detailed work needs to be done.
2x pair of thick socks. (all the above made at master level skill)
2 x pots of home made jam
1 x selection of home made biscuits/cakes/jam tarts (made at legendary level skill)
Modnote: I've deducted the money for the food ingredients under "Food for Sintih's Street Party". I've taken 3 x balls of wool from her stash for the knitted stuff.

[Nir'wei]

It was nice to see Faith embracing their new plan so eagerly - her excitement was infectious and he soon found himself smiling alongside her, even though he'd already scoped out the patch of land he'd bought for them both. Their new project had energized Faith in a way he'd never imagined, transforming her with such purpose and pride that if not for her cheeky jokes, he really could have believed she'd been replaced with someone else entirely. With any luck, Nir'wei thought to himself as he led her along, injecting her and himself with the new purpose that this field would bring might help them both grow. Truth be told, looking at the former slave-girl and her newfound freedom, it felt like it was time for a change on his end as well. Something to break down the monotony. What could be better than both helping themselves, each-other, and the rest of the city in the process? "Good, because you and I still have a lot to be done so you better put all that energy to good use."

It was one thing talking about all of the things they planned to do, but it was going to be another thing entirely actually putting it all into action. "I'm planning on making a sort-of makeshift fence. There's no straight boundaries to where the land ends, it just gives a rough estimate based on the landmarks... and since it's pretty much open field, we need to find some way of working out just how far we can stretch. For now at least." Her mischevious plan made Nir'wei roll his eyes, but a smile rose on his face nonetheless. "Oh that would be excellent indeed, if not for the fact that we only have one tree nearby, and Zi'da has already killed most of it off for us," he noted, before adding, "and I have no intention of letting you kill me off, either." That incident had become a sort of endless running joke between the two of them now, he was certain.

He stopped just short of the precipice of a small hill to accept the gifts, tugging the string of the parcel aside immediately to peek at the contents. "Faith, you really didn't have to... oh wow. I love them!" The thick wool, as long as he kept it nice and dry, he knew would be perfect for the coming cold nights. "It's lovely, haha, I'll make sure to use them often." He'd also try and find a better way to wash them. It was rather well known that his clothes quickly fell into disrepair for many obvious reasons, and really he didn't wish for these lovely garments to fall to the same fate. He really needed to put his own sewing kit to good use. "Oh, yes." He'd almost forgotten.

Taking her by the arm, he pulled her over the apex of the hill to look down at a large expanse of field-land. "I went down to the offices and paid today for the deed. This all used to belong to an old couple of farmers who passed away recently and didn't leave the land in their will, nor did they have any next of kin." All in all, the farm stretched out about six acres, maybe even moreso, but he wasn't focusing on the rest of it. He walked down the slope, pulling her along until they came to one of the fields. The ground was marked noticeably from the last crop harvest, deep grooves dragged in the soil where the plants had once been. "All of this is ours." In the far corner stood Nir'weis horse, Malice, most of his saddle-bags emptied around the ground, including his tent pre-set. Greyhide stood guard. He felt reasonably comfortable leaving the two alone now. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna be living here.. I'm just sticking close by, for now at least."

[Faith Augustin]

"Miles to go before we sleep, certainly. I'm used to hard work, I won't let you down", she spoke in earnest tones, wanting him to be clear that she was not playing at this. "I'll do my very best and work tirelessly", she assured him with serious gaze. Sadly, there was one, mostly dead tree, so her plan for it would not work. "Padraig is a mathematician, would that help with working out distance and boundaries? I'm sure he'd help if I asked him", she could not help the slight flush which tinged her cheeks as she spoke his name, but she smiled at Nir'wei in delight as he teased her back.

He liked her gifts and she grinned in pleasure "I like being able to choose to make things for you, or Lady Elyna or whoever I choose. I like it. I wanted to offer you that I can wash them for you too, if you want. Living out in the wilderness, it must be tricky and damp and so on must be an issue. It would be no bother, and I would be happy to exchange it for you using one of your skills for me. Maybe, hunting or gathering some fresh fruits and vegetables for us? Padraig is a chemist and studies alchemy, so he's very interested in unusual things, herbs and tinctures for my medical supplies. There are lots of things that we could work together with, if you wished it. I am, of course, only suggesting that so that you feel it is reciprocal. If you are happy for me just to wash your clothes, then please, let me help you?"

She was delighted at the land and she looked at where he had set up his horse and dog and tent. "Why not? It would be good to know there was someone here. We could set up a.. build a hut, a small wooden construction, you could live here and we could store tools. We have to have somewhere to plan and do all our work, you know. Just a thought", and Cylus was coming, he would be warmer indoors and Faith could drop foodstuffs off to him, she thought but did not say.

"This is excellent. Truly, Nir'wei, this is excellent. What are we going to do with it, exactly? What sort of crops, any animals? What... how do we envisage this?"

[Nir'wei]

He chuckled quietly, but he didn't doubt her enthusiasm for a second. She really did seem to work tirelessly, to the point that he wondered whether there was ever a point in giving her a bed, seeing as she'd never use the damn thing. Maybe she didn't even know how to use them. "Glad to hear it... but yeah, if you can, it might be a good idea to get Padraig in on this." If nothing else, looking out over the field, they'd need every pair of hands they could get to not only plan how they were going to make the best use of the place, but also just to get stuff done. He'd never undertook anything like this before; he'd always been a roamer and a scavenger, living off whatever land he had available and when the resources ran out or when the place simply became boring or too much effort, he moved to the next spot to start the whole cycle again. Now he had land. Property. An obligation to stay and work on this place until it put the rest of Andaris to shame. "The boundaries aren't really that much of an issue, given the size... and the fact that this is a surprisingly remote bit of land. Nobody's bought any of the surrounding land, nor are they eager to; it's outside the walls after all.

Dragged away from difficult thoughts on how to defend the damn place from idiots deciding to take a pick at some free crops, he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "I'd appreciate the help... and I'd be happy to fetch whatever you need in return," he grinned idly. "Just write down a list of whatever you need from the forests and I'll try and pick them out... although, you might need to give a drawing or something. I don't know stuff by names, I just... know them from looking and generally knowing whether or not I'm going to hate myself if I put them in my mouth," he admitted sheepishly, not really liking how that sounded out loud compared to in his head.

"Anyway, we'll talk about that stuff later. I mean... look at this!" He spread his arms wide and laughed. "I mean, what couldn't we do with this place? It cost a pretty nel, so I might have to wait a while before putting anything permanent down, for now... but I was thinking that along with a little hut over there," he said while pointing to Malice, Greyhide and the abandoned saddlebags, "we could also put up an attachment on the side for Malice. Greyhide and Jasper will stay with me, of course." He'd have to get used to staying in a house again. What would it be like, having a home?

"Then, err. I was looking along the market earlier and I saw some good crops that we can put down. It depends on what we want to go into, though. If we're going into food crops, we can start with wheat, although bread-making seems a little beyond us at the moment with no mill or anything of the sort. Wheat by itself doesn't seem to be a very profitable thing on the market. Too commonplace, great supply and not very much demand." He put a hand to his chin and rubbed it between two fingers. "Vegetables are another good choice. Potatoes, carrots, lettuce, cabbages. You get Padraig here and we can begin organising all of them, making it all more diverse. To be honest that seems like the best solution."

"If we want cattle on top of that, we'd need to keep them separated... and again, we'd need to go for the animals most likely to provide the most and the best produce. Cows are an obvious safe bet. Fresh milk so close to the capital will sell a storm, and it's useful in many other things too. Chickens, if we sort out a good breeding program, we can sell and sell on the market and then hatch the eggs and continue the cycle again, while selling off the excess eggs or excess chickens as we go."

Nir'wei was beaming soon enough. "We can do it all, and when the profits ring in, we can use them to upgrade, buy even more of the surrounding land and put it to use. Hah, we can even start getting other people to help with maintaining and harvesting the crops... there'll be plenty of room on the side to put down a few more huts and since we'll be making plenty of food, we can give them some for good measure as payment. They don't even have to be skilled! When it's big enough, we can give a food, water, a house and a job to anyone in Rynmere who's in the down-and-out."

[Faith Augustin]

"He will, I am sure," Faith said, of Padraig helping them with their endeavours. "He is very able and as a scientist he will be enormously useful." She looked at Nir'wei and the expression on her face told of her thoughts and feelings on the man whose home she had run to when Tristan freed her. "He's paid for a room to be put on the house. So that I have my own space." She glanced at Nir'wei and shrugged slightly. "I need space and time to come to terms with it all. Make decisions." Even though she was quite sure about what she wanted, Padraig was clear; her needs were first and foremost in his mind. He loved her and he wanted them to be together but until Faith was sure that it was what she wanted and that she was ready, they remained as they were.

The land they had was amazing to her and Faith looked at Nir'wei in delight. "Yes, wood is all I need. I can make the hut, we can make it comfortable for you. A nice bed, it's easily done with enough wood."It would be a place for him to live, if it was what he wanted to do. She could do it with ease but more than that it would be her very real pleasure to make a place where her friend could be at home. If he wanted. "We can make places for all of them, the best I can, I promise."

In terms of the crops they would grow, Faith nodded. "Fresh farm produce, used in a restaurant in order to serve the people? Nir'wei, we can do this and make it something wonderful, I'm sure we can" She smiled at her friend and nodded. Chickens, potatoes and all sorts, they could do exactly that. Make a difference to the people of Rynmere. "I'll go to the library," she said with an eager expression. "Get a book on small farms. Then, maybe, what we can do is put the crops and the livestock into a restaurant. Get people to pay and then, we're making money and doing it with a social reason. Nir'wei, we can do wonders."

Looking around the young woman felt just a little overwhelmed but a lot more excited. "Just.. Where do we start?" Faith asked, gleefully.

[Nir'wei]

Nodding thoughtfully, he listened to Faith's words... and the hidden undercurrent, the unspoken expressions and the emotion. Those two were bloody made for each-other. "He sounds like a better man than most." At some point he'd have to invite the guy over, either to get some proper measurements so they could make use of every inch of available space, or just for the pleasure of meeting him. He might even like the man, if he wasn't some stuck-up prat who stuffed his head into books, moped around in the darkness and had absolutely no understanding of how to communicate with normal human beings, or get his hands dirty when it was necessary. Just like all the other prats he'd met before, who'd rather eschew normal conversation for squiggles written on paper. As long as he wasn't that, they'd be fine. "Nice to know that he appreciates you. In everything." She deserved it more than most.

But back to the plans. Those were the most important parts. "My living space doesn't have to be a big thing... if you help, I'm pretty sure we can whip up a nice cabin with no problem. The rest of it is going to be harder though. I don't quite know if all three of us want to be planning out the rest of this land in my stinking little hovel," he exclaimed with a bark-like laugh. "We'll need to set up a different space for that. Wider, and neater. From there, we can start everything else out. Branch outwards." He frowned quietly to himself, considering just where they'd put it though. "Before we do any of this, let's do it right."

Since she was going to defer to his judgement, he was going to make sure she didn't regret it. "You go and get Padraig. He comes here, together we map out a plan on where we put the office, and you and I will build that first. You go to the library, grab a book on farms, grab books on restaurants, all of it. We'll put them all in the office when that's built." A little station to assume command in. Their own little headquarters. That was what they really needed. "The little house, we'll do whenever we have spare time... but the office takes priority for the moment. I can manage." The sooner they got what was important out of the way, after all, the better they'd all feel. "We'd better get started now, as a matter of fact. It's too late to start building, but if you run, you might be able to reach the library. We'll meet here again, tomorrow, and continue the plans."

He gave her one last parting hug and watched her leave. She was absolutely right - they could do wonders. This was the first stepping stone in what would become a long, long line of future endeavours spanning the rest of the whole world. Changing cities. Changing lives by the hundreds. All of it was possible.

He turned to walk back to his little camp when she dropped out of sight, and a pain suddenly stabbed into the back of his skull. It felt like an arrow had smashed straight through his brain, but when he hurriedly lifted his hand to touch the point of impact, his palm came away dry and clean. The throbbing, stabbing agony was still there though, and he crouched over double, wheezing in pain over several long, stomach-clenching seconds. It didn't necessarily disappear... but over time, it slowly settled into a dull, throbbing ache that radiated out over his skull. "Mmmff... must have eaten something bad," he muttered quietly to himself as he straightened up and kept walking, shrugging it off.

[Nymph]

REWARDS

FAITH

• Knowledge:
  • None requested
  Loot:
  • -1 Parcel of Goodies
  Injuries: None
  Fame: +5 (Gift to Nir'wei)
  
  Skill Points: 8/10
  Collaboration: 5/5

- - - - - - -

NIR'WEI

• Knowledge:
  • Business Management: Setting aside a workplace.
  • Business Management: Maximising profit of available land.
  • Business Management: Doing your research before beginning your ventures.
  • Business Management: Taking the first steps to building a farm.
  • Business Management: How to plan a business proposition.
  • Business Management: Considering supply lines.
  • Business Management: Weighing the value of different crops.
  • Business Management: Determining aims for a business venture.
  Loot:
  • - 800 GN (Previously deducted in ledger)
  • 1 Acre of Rynmere Land
  • Parcel of Goodies from Faith
  Injuries: None
  Fame: None
  
  Skill Points: 10/10
  Collaboration: 5/5

- - - - - - -

Comments: Thank you all for the appropriate deductions from your ledgers. It makes my life much easier. The deduction in points for Faith comes from not meeting the minimum 1500 word count for a thread.

This little business adventure to bring farm-to-table concepts to Scalvoris is awesome. Recommendation is to get a bit more land before adding a cow, as it will be happier that way, but chickens and veggies on a 1 acre plot of land is very doable. Especially if the office is kept little-ish. Good luck to you both on this venture. I'm sure it will be fun.

If you feel I've missed anything or if you have questions about your review, please don't hesitate to send me a quick PM. Thank you!